Burner assembly



Oct. 4, 1966 M. SCHERER BURNER ASSEMBLY Filed Oct. 29, 1964 .wfl/cunepJV. 5CHEPEAD,

N WNNQ INVENTOR.

BY H/S ,Jr ramvEysf flimws, JK ECM, 150555.44 QQ/K's/QM United StatesPatent Office 3,276,441 Patented Oct. 4, 1966 3,276,441 BURNER ASSEMBLYRichard M. Scherer, La Habra, Calif., assignor to Waste KingCorporation, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Oct.29, 1964, Ser. No. 407,374 4 Claims. (Cl. 126--39) The invention relatesto a burner assembly for use in domestic gas ranges.

Burner assemblies of the prior art typically include several burnerssupported within a deep burner box of a domestic gas range with theseveral burners being connected to a source of gas. The burner box alsocontains a pilot light and a suitable number of flame tubes forcommunicating the pilot light to each of the burners. Each flame tube isconventionally supported on separate supporting means within the burnerbox. In the typical gas range, an aeration pan and a grate depend froman upper surface of the burner box and to a position adjacent theburners. When burners of this type are employed in the cookingoperation, grease and other foreign particles frequently collect on theaeration pan and when the aeration pan is filled this foreign material,or spillover, spills over and collects on the bottom of the deep burnerbox. This is undesirable because the bottom of the burner box issomewhat inaccessible and accordingly is ditficult to clean.

Another disadvantage of the conventional burner assembly is that itpermits a considerable quantity of heat to be transferred to the bottomof the burner box. Safety codes generally require that the temperatureof the outer surface of the bottom wall of the burner box be maintainedbelow a given maximum temperature during operation of the burner. Withconventional burners the bottom wall of the burner box must consist of athick layer or several spaced layers of material in order that the outersurface may be maintained below the maximum allowable temperature. Toprovide such an insulated bottom wall for the burner box increases thecost of production and complicates construction.

Another problem with prior art burner assemblies is occasional failureto ignite. This is caused by misalignment, during assembly, of the flashtube relative to the lighter jet on the burner.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a burnerassembly which will substantially prevent spillover from dripping intothe burner box.

Another object of this invention is to provide a burner assembly whichis easy to clean.

Another object of this invention is to provide a burner assembly whichwill eliminate the need for an insulated or double-walled bottom for theburner box.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a burnerassemblywhich will insure proper alignment of the flash tube and lighterjet.

A further object of this invention is to provide a burner assembly whichwill reduce the number of instances in which the burner will fail toignite.

Another object of this invention is to provide a unitary burner assemblywhich is easily installed and easily removed from a burner box.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an assembly whichis adaptable .to various burner arrangements.

The objects of the invention may be realized by securing a burner and aflash tube to a spillover pan which also serves as a radiation baffle.The spillover pan functions to catch and retain spillover to therebysubstantially prevent the spillover from running onto the floor of theburner box. It also acts as a radiation bafile by keeping the floor ofthe burner box cool by inhibiting the transfer of heat from the burnerto the burner box floor. Finally, by mounting the flash tube and burnerrigidly on the same structural member, proper alignment. of the flashtube and the lighter jet on the burner is assured.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken on the line 11 of FIG. 2 showing apreferred form of the burner assembly of this invention mounted in aburner box;

FIG. 2 is a view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1 showing the burnerassembly and burner box but excluding the aeration pan and grate;

FIG. 3 is a perspective View of the burner assembly; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3 showing amanner of securing the burner and gas conduit to the spillover plate.

The burner assembly includes a burner 1, a flash tube 3, and a gasconduit 5 all suitably rigidly secured to a spillover pan 7. The burnerincludes a burner base 9, a gas diffuser 11 supported by the burnerbase, and a nozzle 13 protruding laterally from the burner base. Theburner base 9 is a hollow irregularly shaped element having a lowerirregularly shaped portion 14 and a. circular top portion 14a which hasa generally channel-shaped cross section and is rigidly secured tospillover pan 7 by any suitable means such as screws 15. The gasdiffuser 11, which is an integral structure and is of generally circularcross section, rests slidably on, or secured to, an upper surface of theburner base 9. The difluser 11 also includes a circular wall 16 and acircular wall 17 which is inside and concentric with the wall 16. Thewall 16 has a flange 16a and the wall 17 has a flange 17a which rest onthe upper edges of the channel-shaped top portion 14a. The wall 17 alsohas an extension 1712 which overlaps the top portion 14a to provide aninterlock. The walls 16 and 17 are secured together at their upper edgesby a circular portion 18. The diffuser 11 has a plurality of alternatelyspaced small openings or ports 19 and large openings or ports 20 in thewall 16 which are in communication with an annular passage 21 of the topportion 14a. Gas is supplied to the burner through conduit 5 to which issecured a fitting 22 with an open end adapted to slidingly receive inquick disconnect fashion an end 23 of a gas supply fitting 24. Thenozzle 13 has an ignition opening or orifice 25 in communication withthe passage 21 in the burner base 9.

The spillover pan 7 is a substantially circular, metallic, porcelainsurfaced sheet having its edge turned up to form a peripheral lip 27which surrounds an inner surface 29 for catching and retaining spilloverto thereby prevent the spillover from running onto the floor of theburner box. On one side of the spillover pan the upturned edge 27 hasbeen flattened as shown at 31 to provide a broad flat surface. Thespillover pan is also provided with a gas supply aperture 33 to allowgas to pass from the conduit 5 through the hollow lower portion 14 tothe annular passage 21 in the top portion 14a.

The flash tube 3 in the specific embodiment illustrated is a hollowsubstantially cylindrical member having its edges at one end turned inat 37 to form an orifice 39. Flash tube 3 is suitably rigidly secured tothe flat portion 31 of spillover pan 7. The flash tube is mounted on thespillover pan so that the passageway therethrough is aligned with andconfronts the orifice 25 of the nozzle 13.

Means are also provided for inducing air flow into the conduit 5 and forregulating the quantity of air so induced. The conduit 5 preferably hastwo longitudinally extending slots 71 at one end thereof and the fitting22, which is secured to the conduit 5, has a corresponding number oflongitudinally extending slots 72. The fitting 22 also has acircumferential slot 73 through which a screw 74 extends to secure thefitting to the conduit 5. When the screw 74 loosely secures the fitting22 to the conduit 5, the fitting may be rotated with respect to theconduit to adjust the degree to which the slots 72 overlap the slots 71.This overlap forms two openings 75 through which air is drawn into theconduit 5 by the jet of combustible gas exiting from the end 23 of thegas supply fitting 24. After a proper size for the openings 75 isselected, the screw 74 is tightened to rigidly fasten the fitting 22 tothe conduit 5. The air drawn in at the openings 75 is thoroughly mixedwith the combustible gas in the conduit 5 enroute to the burner 1.Although two slots 71 and two slots 72 are described in the specificembodiment, it should be understood that any suitable number of slotsmay be provided.

It is apparent, therefore, that the unitary burner assembly of thisinvention comprises conduit 5, flash tube 3, and burner 1, all rigidlyconnected to spillover pan 7. The spillover pa n performs severalimportant functions. First, it catches and retains spillover from thecooking process and thereby prevents spillover from running onto thefloor of the burner box. The spillover pan 7 also serves as a radiationbaifle by reducing radiant heat transfer from the burner 1 to the floorof the burner box. The spillover plate is also valuable in that itserves to rigidly mount the flash tube 3 in proper alignment with thenozzle 13 to thereby reduce the number of ignition failures.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the unitary burner assembly is shown mounted in aburner box. The bottom 41 of the burner box, which comprises only asingle layer of material, supports a bracket 43. Secured to the bracket43 is a pilot light assembly 45 and one end of the spillover pan 7. Thespillover pan 7 is releasably secured to the bracket 43 by any suitablemeans such as threaded fasteners 47. The spillover pan 7 is supported atanother location by the conduit 5 which is shown as releasably securedto the end 23 of gas supply fitting 24. For most residentialapplications the threaded fasteners 47 are not required and the burneris securely and firmly supported by resting on the bracket 43 and theend 23 of the gas supply fitting 24. An aeration pan 49 and a grate 51are also provided and are shown in FIG. 1 as supported by the upper wall53 of the burner box.

To operate this device a gas valve (not shown) is turned on. Gas is thensupplied through a gas line (not shown) to the gas supply fitting 24,and then through the conduit 5, the aperture 33 in the spillover pan 7,and annular passage 21 to the openings 19 and 20 and the orifice 25. Gasalso flows from the orifice 25 through the flash tube 3 to a positionadjacent the pilot light assembly 45 where it is ignited. The flame fromthe ignited gases quickly spreads to give an even flame around theburner. During the cooking process, grease and foreign particles calledspillover are accumulated on the aeration pan 49 and on the spilloverpan 7. When the aeration pan 49 is filled with spillover, the spilloversubsequently accumulated on the aeration pan will overflow to thespillover pan. No spillover is allowed to accumulate on the bottom 41 ofthe burner box. To clean the burner assembly the threaded fasteners 47,if they have been used, are unscrewed. Then, as the fitting 22 slidablyengages the end 23, the entire burner assembly including 4 the conduit5, the burner 1, the flash tube 3, and the spillover pan 7 may beremoved from the burner box and cleaned. After the burner assembly hasbeen cleaned, it may be re-inserted into the burner box and secured inthe proper position.

Thus, it will be noted that the present invention provides a simple, yeteffective, means for preventing spillover from accumulating on the floorof the burner box and also for keeping the bottom of the burner boxrelatively cool. Ignition failures caused by misalignment of the flashtube and nozzle are also eliminated by the present invention. Also, theunitary burner assembly disclosed herein is easy to remove from theburner box and easy to clean. The invention also simplifies burner boxconstruction by eliminating the need for a double-walled or insulatedfloor in the burner box.

Several modifications of the specific embodiment disclosed herein willreadily become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art. Forexample, the spillover plate 7 may be of any shape suitable for catchingand retaining spillover. The burner need not be of the specific designillustrated but may assume various configurations. Likewise, the flashtube 3 may be rotated so that the orifice 33 is adjacent the orifice 25and the nozzle 13.

Although exemplary embodiments of the invention have been disclosed, itwill be understood that other applications of the invention are possibleand that the embodiments disclosed may be subjected to various changes,modifications, and substitutions without necessarily dcparting from thespirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a unitary burner unit for installation above the floor of a burnerbox, the combination of:

a spillover pan having an upper surface;

a gas burner rigidly secured to said spillover pan and overlying aportion of said upper surface thereof, said gas burner having passagemeans therein connectible to a source of gas, said passage meansproviding an ignition opening in said gas burner, said spillover panextending laterally beyond the periphery of said gas burner to catchspillover from said gas burner and to substantially reduce the amount ofheat transferred from said gas burner to the floor of the burner box;and

a flash tube rigidly secured to said spillover pan, said flash tubehaving a passageway extending therethrough and terminating in anaperture which con fronts said ignition opening.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1 wherein said ignition opening hasa laterally extending axis and said flash tube is substantially straightand extends generally in the same direction as said axis.

3. A combination as defined in claim 1 wherein said spillover pan has agas supply aperture beneath said gas burner and communicating with saidpassage means in said gas burner, and a conduit is rigidly secured tothe lower side of said spillover pan in communication with said gassupply aperture, said conduits being connectible to the source of gas.

4. In a unitary burner unit for installation above the floor of a burnerbox, the combination of:

a spillover pan having an upper surface and an upturned peripheral lip,said spillover pan having a centrally positioned gas supply aperture;

a gas burner including a burner base rigidly secured to said uppersurface of said spillover pan above said gas supply aperture and a gasdiffuser supported by said burner base, said gas burner having passagemeans extending from said gas supply aperture through said burner baseand said gas diffuser and terminating in a plurality of gas ports insaid gas diffuser, said passage means also providing a laterallyextending ignition opening in said burner base;

ture and communicating therewith, said conduit be- 1 ing connectible toa source of gas.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Nieberding et al.126-214 X Mueller 158l15 Hornung 158l15 Mueller 158115 FREDERICK L.MATTESON, JR., Primary Examiner.

0 E. G. FAVORS, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A UNITARY BURNER UNIT FOR INSTALLATION ABOVE THE FLOOR OF A BURNERBOX, THE COMBINATION OF: A SPILLOVER PAN HAVING AN UPPER SURFACE; A GASBURNER RIGIDLY SECURED TO SAID SPILLOVER PAN AND OVERLYING A PORTION OFSAID UPPER SURFACE THEREOF, SAID GAS BURNER HAVING PASSAGE MEANS THEREINCONNECTIBLE TO A SOURCE OF GAS, SAID PASSAGE MEANS PROVIDING AN IGNITIONOPENING IN SAID GAS BURNER, SAID SPILLOVER PAN EXTENDING LATERALLYBEYOND THE PERIPHERY OF SAID GAS BURNER TO CATCH SPILLOVER FROM SAID GASBURNER AND TO SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF HEAT TRANSFERRED FROMSAID GAS BURNER TO THE FLOOR OF THE BURNER BOX; AND A FLASH TUBE RIGIDLYSECURED TO SAID SPILLOVER PAN, SAID FLASH TUBE HAVING A PASSAGEWAYEXTENDING THERETHROUGH AND TERMINATING IN AN APERTURE WHICH CONFRONTSSAID IGNITION OPENING.